SMC moves one win from advancing to World Series

Dylan Rogers struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings Saturday as the Pioneers beat ASA College, 7-2, in Keyser, W.Va., and advanced to the championship round.

By TODD SHANESYtodd.shanesy@shj.com

The hunch was correct.Spartanburg Methodist's regular No. 2 starter, Chris Washington, was skipped in favor of Dylan Rogers for the second game of the NJCAA Eastern District tournament. Rogers struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings Saturday as the Pioneers beat ASA College, 7-2, in Keyser, W.Va., and advanced to the championship round. The freshman right-hander from Union County High School improved to 6-1 with a 2.57 ERA.SMC will face host team Potomac State at 11 a.m. Sunday with two chances to win one game and advance to the junior college World Series for a second year in a row.Rogers, who has signed to play at South Carolina, made this third straight outstanding start and sixth appearance overall. During that span, he has worked 23 innings and allowed only these two runs on 16 hits. He pitched six shutout innings, giving up four hits, in a Region 10 tournament win against USC Sumter.“Dylan has been throwing a great slider,” SMC head coach Tim Wallace said. “The last four or five times out, he's been very consistent with it. Matt (Williams, pitching coach) scouted and thought their batters would have trouble with that pitch. He was right. They couldn't lay off the slider.”Brandon Landrie from Spartanburg High School came in to pitch out of a first-and-third jam in the seventh and finished for his first save. Landrie allowed SMC to rest everybody else in the bullpen for a possible doubleheader on Sunday. He faced eight batters in getting seven outs. Washington (7-2, 2.45) is the likely to take the mound this morning.“Chris will give us a great chance,” Wallace said. “If we go to a second game, we've got Rob Landers (4-0, 2.20) or (Union County product) Alex Pridemore (4-2, 3.45). We've got also (closer Cody) Mincey (4-2, four saves, 1.82) back. Everybody is fresh. They haven't seen (side-winding reliever Josh) Escoffier yet. We've got plenty of arm options, even if we have to play two games. We won't lose because we don't have enough fresh arms.”Reid Moman, the Region 10 player of the year headed for Coastal Carolina next season, went 2-for-3 with a double, three runs scored, an RBI and a stolen base. Shell McCain drove in three runs, two of which came on a stand-up triple to give SMC a 4-1 lead in the fifth.“That gave us a little breathing room, but we still weren't too comfortable,” Wallace said. “We left 10 on base. There were so many times that we could have broken it open with a hit. We just didn't. But Dylan was throwing great, we played good defense with no errors and our running game (seven stolen bases after six in the last game) was messing with them.”SMC (44-13) has won 13 straight games. The Pioneers went unbeaten through the double-elimination Region 10 tournament in Burlington, N.C. They are trying for their sixth trip to the World Series in Grand Junction, Colo., since 2001.Potomac State (40-15) won the national championship in 1995 and is looking to make it to the tournament for a seventh time. SMC had to rally from four runs down in the eighth against the Catamounts to win the opening game.“(Head coach) Doug Little does a great job,” Wallace said. “They played the right way. They hustle on and off the field. There's no jabbering or anything. It's just a good baseball team. They'll come out with a lot of effort on their home field and we'll have to match it or exceed it.”

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